Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Looking ahead to the Emberlight Festival's fourth year this summer are the festival's president Karen Mallum and artistic director Miles Mykkanen.
By P.J. GLISSON
Ironwood - A launch party for the fourth annual Emberlight Festival, which will run for eight weeks this summer, took place Saturday night at Theatre North in Ironwood.
It was an opportunity for festival co-founders Miles Mykkanen and Cindy Franck - who are also the creative director and artistic producer, respectively - to announce the new season's lineup of entertainment while also kicking off a fundraising raffle.
"It's a little insane to me that we are in our fourth season," said Mykkanen, who added that it takes about 18 to 24 months to plan each year's festival.
A major component of the festival will again be Art in the Park, which will consist of 21 large-scale expressions of art within the Miners Memorial Heritage Park.
Art in the Park will kick off the festival with a noon opening ceremony on June 29 and will continue to run through to the festival's end date of Aug. 24.
Each year the festival brings in professional musicians to offer performances. This year's festival will feature the Broadway Strings, a string quartet, in two shows on Aug. 22 and 24 at the Hurley School Auditorium.
The first show, called "Broadway and Dvorak," will feature Broadway overtures and medleys, along with New York pianist Adam Rothenberg playing the Dvorak Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major.
The second show, called "On Wenlock Edge," will combine the talents of the string quartet with Rothenberg and Mykkanen, performing Ralph Vaughan Williams' "On Wenlock Edge," along with "greatest hits" from Broadway and opera.
Mykkanen also will offer a separate cabaret-style show, offered twice on Aug. 15 and 17, called "If Ever I Would Leave You," at Theatre North.
He said that this year's schedule will include a new element called the Ember Club, which involves a slight transformation of the existing Theatre North layout. The first two rows of seats will be removed and replaced with tables and cushioned armchairs, where VIP attendees will be eligible for table service, including beverages and snacks.
The theatre also still will offer 130 regular seats.
In addition, Mykkanen will offer what he calls "Tenor Talks" on three different subjects at the Hurley School auditorium on July 9, 10 and 11. He topics will include "Opera and Showbiz," "Making the Music" and "All About Artistry."
"It's going to be an interactive, open forum," said Mykkanen of the talks.
A continuing component of the festival will be Performance Infusions, amid the Art in the Park installations on four Saturday afternoons.
The first will be on June 29 and will feature the Bizhiki Culture and Dance Company, led by Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings of Bad River, Wisconsin.
The company combines traditional Ojibwe singing, dancing and storytelling in what Emberlight board president Karen Mallum described as "a really beautiful, festive, interactive performance."
Other infusions will include "Logging Legends and Lores" on July 6, "Whittling in the Woods" on July 13 and "Fantastic Folk Instruments" on July 27.
Colton Pometta, director of the Emberlight Film festival, also addressed last Saturday's audience on a large screen, from a film festival in Miami.
He said Emberlight has received more than 2,600 films in the first few years of the festival, and he already has received more than 800 this year.
Films chosen for 2024 will be screened at three different Theatre North shows on Aug. 16, 18 and 21.
"It's been amazing to be welcomed by this community multiple times," said Pometta. "I miss you all. I'll see you soon."
Mallum said some of the Emberlight events are free, including Art in the Park, Performance Infusions, Tenor Talks, and an exhibit of 11 local photographers in an exhibit called "The Art of Photography" at the Historic Ironwood Depot from July 17 to Aug. 24.
Emberlight officials also began a selling raffle tickets that will continue through the festival. The drawing will be Aug. 23 at the final show where the "Embys" - or awards for the Film Festival and Art in the Park - will be announced.
Also at the launch party, Mykkanen sang an excerpt of an aria, a capella, from "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amore (The Elixir of Love) by Gaetano Donizetti.
At the end of the show, he was surprised by additional virtual good wishes for his 33rd birthday and the singing of "Happy Birthday" by the Theatre North audience.
For more information, see the festival website or Facebook page.
